The role of feminist NGOs network regarding the decision-making process of the EU directive on gender based violence against women

The relevance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) within the political arena is well known and widely accepted; although there are still some limiting aspects to keep in consideration when analyzing their policy approach, the relevance of their efforts into the process of policy-making can concretely be seen at every level of governance of the political arena. Of particular interest and relevance is the work done by these organizations within the political space of the European Union (EU), always in consideration of it being a structured political environment where NGOs can flourish. Civil society organizations at the EU level, especially in consideration of their relationship with the most relevant EU Institutions, still work through informal means, not being formally bound by legally binging rules nor following structured mechanisms nor procedures. Although this might limit the real potentiality of the reach of NGOs, it is still to be considered a temporary situation, on which the whole EU, through its own institutions, is working, aiming at creating a more structured environment for NGOs to work at their full potential and for democracy to flourish again after a widespread backlash. In this research the positive role of NGOs in terms of moulding the policy-making process will be highlighted through an attentive analysis of the path towards the adoption of the very first legally binding instrument, adopted at the level of the European Union, to combat violence against women and domestic violence, which has been long advocated for by the feminist NGOs networks present within the EU and working also beyond the EU borders in order to establish a far more reaching cooperation, extending the field of action and the reach of the work itself, involving as many actors as possible to engage with all the aspects related to the matter, even those not directly imputable to it. This analysis aims at demonstrating the relevant influence of NGOs in the process of policy-making by analyzing the concrete results these organizations can and did reach, through the example of the adoption of the aforementioned directive, and in consideration of their ability to adapt to the development of the political, economic and social spheres, both in terms of temporal evolutions as well as influences coming from changes in many other related fields. The research does not aim to be a legal nor a sociological analysis of the work of NGOs, it is instead a political evaluation of the approach and methods of the work of NGOs in influencing the process of elaboration, adoption and implementation of the directive through different means and policies, at different levels and in different fields of action and influence. In trying to consider all these different factors and to include them in the present research an important premise must be done: that of considering the time and spatial limitations as well as difficulties in finding a high number of resources and datas; it must be born in mind that studies on NGOs’ involvement in the political arena are not that common nor widespread, in addition to this it must be considered the lack of official and comparable data, moreover the directive taken as example is very recent, as well as the path towards it, which makes it difficult to conduct an evaluation of its concrete results, as it might be too early to even have some, which is however not the aim of the present research, which will focus on the work of NGOs rather than presenting an evaluation of the act itself. With this being said the research, aims at proposing a lens through which the work of NGOs can be positively evaluated in molding the policy-making process, representing a relevant tool linking the government to the governed, helping them to have their interests translated into concrete and effective policies, as well as helping the various institutions in elaborating more efficient policies in the longer run.